The song of the magpies
by rainbowchameleon
Summary: Twice Nico di Angelo wanders through the fields of asphodel. Twice the souls of Magpies make him think, but how did the Giant War change his thoughts? First in between SoN and MoA, and secondly after BoO. Introspective.


**A/N- This will have BoyxBoy pairings.**

The Song Of The Magpies

Contrary to popular belief, the souls of animals did reside in the underworld. They populated Asphodel, where Nico was currently wandering. He looked overhead and saw birds swooping overhead, magpies-the sacred bird of Dionysus. As he counted the magpies he suddenly remembered a superstition he had heard when he was younger. A fairy story about magpies.

**_One for Sorrow._**

He had seen sorrow, so much sorrow. First was his mother, though he didn't remember her. Zeus had struck her down, and for what? Paranoia? A prophecy? Nico laughed bitterly. How well had that worked?

Next was Bianca, and this wound ran deeper than most. She has practically raised him, the only mother he had ever known, but she had left him. Abandoned him for the hunters, a group of girls she had known for- five minutes? Ten? Then she had joined a quest and sacrificed herself leaving Nico alone, believing Percy had betrayed him.

Percy- but he didn't want to think about that.

Nico di Angelo was no stranger to sorrow.

**_Two for joy_**

Contrary to the rumours in camp-half blood, he had once been happy. One may even have said he was too talkative, annoying perhaps, the opposite of how he was now.

Before the Lotus Hotel, he was happy. Living in Italy with his Mother, playing with Bianca.

_In_ the Locus Hotel, he had been happy, content even. He had Bianca and that was enough.

After at Westover he had been happy. Until Bianca joined the hunters, until she was ripped away from him, he had been happy.

Until he split open the ground at camp Half-Blood, he had known the pure bliss, the pure joy of childhood ignorance.

_**Three for a girl**_

Hazel. She was the one good thing that had happened to him for years. She wasn't Bianca, he couldn't deny that, but she was just as brilliant, just as worthy of being saved. He loved her just the same. From the moment he took her hand in Asphodel, he had loved her, and he would do anything so she could keep the remnants of innocence she had left.

_**Four for a boy**_

Percy- It was painful to think of him, Percy and Annabeth, Annabeth and Percy. It was always those two together. Even when Percy couldn't remember his _mother_ he remembered Annabeth. Percy hadn't known him. As if he needed more salt to rub into the wound.

_**Five for Silver**_

The hunters of Artemis were silver. They saved him once, saved Bianca, saved Percy.

But then they had taken Bianca, but he could live with that. She would have been happy, so he would learn to live with it. But then Zoë had volunteered Bianca for the quest and she hadn't come back. The last thing he remembered of Bianca was a flash of silver as she walked away.

_**Six for Gold**_

Minos had worn a gold crown. He had lied to Nico, told him that he was only trying to help. Nico, young and gullible, had believed Minos' honeyed words, and it had almost been his downfall, Percy's downfall, and all because he couldn't accept the rules of death.

_**Seven for a secret never to be told**_

He had a secret, and he would take it to the grave. He may not remember much about his life before the Lotus hotel, but he remembered that his feelings were wrong, no one would accept him. Oh, he knew people pretended to accept it now, but how much could possibly change?

_**Eight for a wish**_

He wished for many things. For his mother, for Bianca, for his childhood innocence. For Hazel's safety, for conventional feelings. But he was no longer naïve enough to believe that they would come true, that any deity would listen to the prayers of a young boy, so he had long since stopped asking.

_**Nine for a kiss**_

His mother used to kiss him on the head, Bianca on the cheek. Hazel kissed him on the forehead. Percy- well he had never kissed Percy, and he never would.

_**Ten for a bird never to be missed**_

Although it wasn't the real meaning to the line, it made Nico think. Did anyone miss him? If he just left would anyone care? Most likely not. Hazel might, but that was it. If he left, he would never be missed.

* * *

><p>Nico hated coming to Asphodel, the souls were so pitiful, that when he first came he had tried to help every single one remember their past selves. He now knew it was hopeless, and he brushed off the clutching hands. He heard birds singing and looked up. Magpies.<p>

_**One for Sorrow**_

Oh, Nico had known sorrow, but he had learnt to accept the hardships in his past, and move forward. He was no stranger to sorrow, but he had learnt not to dwell on the pain.

_**Two for Joy**_

He was regaining some of his childhood joy. He could never regain his innocence, especially after Tartarus, but he began to see the fun in little things. Talking to Jason, Hazel, and especially Will. Will had helped him uncover the old joy, and the geeky, mythomagic obsessed child was slowly coming back from where Nico had buried him.

_**Three for a Girl**_

Hazel, his brilliant sister. She was no longer the naïve girl she once was, but her experiences had turned her into a brilliant, independent young woman. She was happy in New Rome with Frank and for that Nico was thankful.

Reyna- She had accepted him without batting an eyelash, and they had become firm friends. Nico had peeled away the stoic mask of the praetor and seen the girl inside, and he loved her for who she was. He had showed her that emotion _wasn't_ a weakness

_**Four for a Boy**_

Will. Will with his crooked smiles and flashing eyes. Determined and stubborn, he irritated Nico to Hades and back, but still he loved the boy. He had been patient with Nico, and even now, years after the fall of Gaia, he still insisted that Nico use shadow travel for emergencies only. They had a strange relationship, but for all its unconventionalities it was perfect to Nico.

_**Five for silver**_

He still resented the hunters slightly, but he was trying. Trying to forgive. Holding grudges was his fatal flaw, and he was attempting to overcome his distate of the girls in silver.

_**Six for Gold**_

The Athena Parthenos, which had taken so much to deliver to camp stood tall and golden on Half-blood hill. A sign of peace, a unification of the two sides of Nico's life, of a feud that had been burning for thousands of years.

_**Seven for a Secret Never To Be Told**_

He tried not to harbour his feelings. He had told Percy his secret, and it felt as if Atlas' burden had been lifted from his shoulders.

He kept Reyna's secret. He had not even revealed it to Will, it was Reyna's past, and he respected that.

_**Eight for a wish**_

He wished that the fragile peace would last for his lifetime at least. His friends, and himself, had seen enough war and suffering to last several lives, and they deserved a reprieve from darkness.

**_Nine for a Kiss._**

Nico blushed lightly as he remembered when Will had first kissed him. It had been six months since the war, and they had been sitting in Nico's cabin, talking, when Will had leaned over and softly joined their lips. It had lasted only a few seconds, before Will had lurched back and started apologising. Nico had cut off his words by placing a chaste kiss on Will's cheek, smiling at the shocked expression on the healer's face.

**_Ten for a Bird Never To Be Missed_**

Now Nico knew the true meaning of the line. He took pleasure in the song of the magpies. Although they were in Asphodel, he loved hearing the souls of the Magpies sing their woes, sing their pleasure, sing their _life._ He wouldn't want to miss the Magpies, and the happy memories they now evoked.

**A/N- So… Yeah. That happened. I was just thinking about how hardly anyone, especially outside the UK, knows that rhyme and this popped into my head. Not my best work, it's a slightly different format than how I usually write, but I was trying it out.**

**Please tell me your thoughts in a review!**

**~rainbowchameleon **


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